What Is Happening With AS Monaco This Season?

"So far, not so good" might be the correct way to describe AS Monaco's current campaign which is a reflection of their outrageously terrible form especially for a club of that stature. 

Only 2 wins and 4 draws and a quite horrific 9 losses in a total of 15 games in all competitions saw the team who finished second in Ligue 1 and reached the final of Coupe de la Ligue last season sitting 19th inside the relegation zone on the Ligue 1 table and dead last on the group A of UEFA Champions League with only 10 points and 1 point in the respective competitions.

This season also saw the club which is owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev swap Portuguese manager Leonardo Jardim - who actually managed to bring the club to their first Ligue 1 title in 17 years while reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2016/17, not just bringing challenges to the long-time running champions Paris Saint-Germain in domestic competitions, but also European giants in the UEFA Champions League - with former AS Monaco player and Belgium national team assistant manager, Thierry Henry. 

The club was, to be honest, pretty stable for the last five seasons, but this season is something different. 

The Portuguese manager has always been working in somewhat difficult circumstances since he arrived at Stade Louis II in the 2014/15 season, but sadly this time he didn't manage to get things up and running for far too long. His successor though, Thierry Henry, only has not much time in his hands to tinker with things and get the club on the right track.

What is happening exactly with the last season Ligue 1 runners-up? Why are they enduring such a bad run this season?

A Big Hole In The Squad, Poor Morale, and The Wrong Kind of Consistency

Les Monegasques just got their first win under new manager Thierry Henry, shedding some light on an otherwise slumping run. Their 1-0 win against Stade Malherbe Caen in the 14th fixture of Ligue 1 on Saturday marked their first win after a run of 16 matches in all competitions without a win. For a club of their stature, surely they'd expect much better?

But the blame should not be laid solely on Leonardo Jardim here, for he is only a small fraction of what caused the downfall of the Monaco-based team. What we should pay attention to is the bigger picture, which is how the club have been running in the past 4-5 years.  

AS Monaco are always known as a team who spend money responsibly - and by "responsibly" I mean buying young wonderkids and flagship players on a cut-price deal, then proceed to sell them on a much larger fee after one or two seasons. This has been their case since 5 years ago and this has truly made them a ton of money.

Since 13/14, AS Monaco have bought and sold (including players coming from their youth academy) the likes of James Rodriguez, Anthony Martial, Bernardo Silva, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho, Thomas Lemar, Allan Saint-Maximin, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Layvin Kurzawa, Aymen Abdennour, Yannick Carrasco, Benjamin Mendy, Kylian Mbappe, and many others. This has brought their income up to roughly 772 million Euros after five years which means they are making in average 154 million Euros each year through the sales of their players. Meanwhile, AS Monaco have spent roughly around 534 million Euros throughout those five years, meaning that they have spent in average 107 million Euros to buy players.

Their businesses are not simply to buy and sell players though. Those players that they have bought are also designated to fill the holes in their squad. Their lack of effectiveness in front of goal for example, have seen them buy the likes of Radamel Falcao, Valere Germain, and Stevan Jovetic. Their need for pacy, agile, quick-footed wingers have seen them acquire the likes of Yannick Carrasco, Anthony Martial, and Balde Keita. Their need for creativity and solidity in the midfield means they need players like James Rodriguez, Joao Moutinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho, and Geoffrey Kondogbia. Meanwhile, their need to strengthen their walls of defence have seen them buy players such as Kamil Glik, Benjamin Mendy, Djibril Sidibe, and Diego Benaglio.

Talking about this season though, Les Monegasques have brought in names like Aleksandr Golovin, Benjamin Henrichs, Jean-Eudes Aholou, Willem Geubbels, Nacer Chadli, Antonio Barreca, Ronael Pierre-Gabriel, Sofiane Diop, Jonathan Panzo, Samuel Grandsir, and Pele while Kylian Mbappe, Thomas Lemar, Terence Kongolo, Fabinho, Rachid Ghezzal, Soualiho Meite, Joao Moutnho, and Ruben Vinagre all left the club in search for greener pastures.

Those players that have moved on to another club have certainly left a big void to fill in the squad that was managed by Leonardo Jardim. In the past seasons, Monaco have always been successful in covering this hole with the players that they have brought in and/or with youth talents coming from their youth academy. This season they have been rather unsuccessful iin that department though, with some of them struggling with their own injury and fitness problems instead of helping their team's struggle to get out of the relegation zone. Pelé, Samuel Grandsir, and Aleksandr Golovin have been the focus of public lately for their below par performances. Meanwhile, some other names who have been at the club for a while, like Radamel Falcao, Andrea Raggi, Djibril Sidibe, and Danijel Subasic have also been so far quite unimpressive with their showings in the recent games. Jemerson, Youri Tielemans, Benjamin Henrichs, and Youssef Ait Bennasser have been pretty decent and perhaps have been the best and the most consistent performers in the team currently. Youth players have also been given some game time this season, both under Jardim and the recently appointed Thierry Henry, with names like Benoit Badiashile, Khephren Thuram-Ulien, Gobe Gouano, Wilson Isidor, Han-Noah Massengo, Giulian Biancone, and even young talents that just moved in this season like Willem Geubbels and Sofiane Diop. Those youngsters have made quite an impression after making their senior appearances either in UEFA Champions League or Ligue 1, but it is still clear that the youthful AS Monaco team are still not up to the task at hand.

The team is under increasing pressure, but Thierry Henry still seems to be looking for the perfect formula, that perfect mixture of youth and experience in his squad and though they have lost the likes of Mbappe, Lemar, and Fabinho - I am sure that Henry could make good use of what he has right now at his disposal to fill the large hole left by those players. It all depends on how he uses those resources now.

It is definitely true that poor morale could lead to loss of confidence which in turn could lead to bad run of form, which could actually lead to even worse morale. The downfall of a team's morale could also be affected by various things like the atmosphere in the dressing room, player-coach relationship, and many other aspects on and off the field in football. In this case, the Ligue 1 side's more experienced and more influential players are even struggling with a loss of confidence. In the defence, Diego Benaglio, Andrea Raggi, and Djibril Sidibe have been in a really terrible run of form this season. The Swiss goalkeeper, have only been able to keep 3 clean sheets out of 17 matches that he has played in, conceding 30 goals in the making. Andrea Raggi is not getting any younger and it becomes increasingly apparent as his lack of pace and decreasing physicality are exploited heavily in their 2-0 loss against Atletico Madrid in their most recent UEFA Champions League match, meanwhile Djibril Sidibe, who has always been known as the strong, unstoppable marauding full-back, able to play on both flanks, is now slowly being replaced by the presence of Benjamin Henrichs, who this season has shown more energy, more creativity, and offered more solidity both in attack and defence. While Youri Tielemans has perhaps shown a bit of improvement after a lacklustre first season at Stade Louis II, the midfield still needs to improve as an overall. The forwards though have been a bit troubled by recent injuries. Last season star players Stefan Jovetic and Marcos "Rony" Lopes are currently sidelined with injuries while Radamel Falcao and young striker Moussa Sylla are still unable to find the net regularly, missing the goal on too many occasions. Although the Colombian striker, who is now the club captain - is currently the club's top scorer, he has only managed to put his name on the scoresheet 5 times in a total of 16 matches in all competitions. Far from what he achieved last season where he managed to put 7 past the goalkeeper in only 4 matches in Ligue 1.

Les Rouges et Blancs have also so far been consistent, unfortunately not in a good way. Their last 5 matches have been filled with 4 losses and 1 win. All they need to do is turn that around, but of course it wouldn't be as easy as simply saying it. They need an important figure, an influential figure to step up and motivate them. Maybe give the lads some words of encouragement, maybe setup more team bonding training, or maybe just start by winning one game at a time. I believe either of them would work. It is not an easy task, especially for a fledgling manager like Thierry Henry, but he is a confident one, and I believe he could get by this difficulties soon enough. Their next match is against the third-placed Montpellier HSC in Ligue 1 who are known for their impenetrable defence under coach Michel Der Zakarian. It won't be an easy match for sure, but it could be the first step towards a better season.